The present invention relates generally to electricity generators and particularly to electricity generators having no stator.
In 1831 Michael Faraday rotated a copper disk adjacent to a pole of a stationary magnet with the magnetic field lines perpendicular to the plane of the disk. Faraday discovered that rotating the disk resulted in a voltage generated between the center and the outer edge of the disk. Electrical power could then be extracted from the disk from terminals connected to the disk by sliding contacts or brushes coupled to a central axle of the disk and to the disc""s outer periphery.
The Faraday disk generator was developed in the late 1890""s and the early part of this century into a high power, low voltage direct current generator suitable for industrial electroplating applications. These generators typically have a stator and a rotor to couple the electric and magnetic fields for generating power.
Faraday also discovered that power was generated from the disk even when the magnet was rotated together with the disk. This type of generator requires no stator. Because the generation of a voltage by a conductor that is stationary relative to the source of the magnetic field has not been explained by classical theory, statorless generators have not been widely exploited.
An electricity generator is disclosed having electrically conductive, counter-rotating collectors arranged coaxially within a magnetic field extending radially from an axis of rotation. The collectors are electrically connected to each other to conduct current flow in opposite directions to balance the interaction between current flow in the collectors and the magnetic field.
An advantage of the present invention is that its design may be readily scaled to provide a desired voltage and current output.
Another advantage of the invention is that the source of magnetic energy may be incorporated into a rotating collector, therefore no stator is required.